Today I saw something that sent my mind spinning in a direction that I hadn't thought about in quite a while. Does that ever happen to you? You see or hear or smell something and it reminds you of something entirely different.

Well, I saw someone on TV that made me remember a day-trip my family made to Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, about 1985 or 86.

My Sweetie has some relatives that live in northern Idaho, just below the Canadian border. We went to Idaho to visit friends and decided to look up this Aunt that my husband had never met.
We found her and her son, living in a log cabin in the forest of northern Idaho. YD was ready to move in immediately -- it was like "Little House In the Big Woods" had come to life!

We had a lovely visit and then, hearing that we had never been to Canada, cousin asked if we would like to go there. We agreed so the 6 of us piled in their car and headed north. At the border the guards knew the cousin by name -- he conducted business on both sides of the border on a regular basis. We crossed and then drove along side Kootenay Lake for a number of miles -- about an hour of travel. Kootenay is a glacial lake and is long, narrow, and deep. Finally we arrived at the ferry point and got in line in our car. When the ferry arrived and we drove on-board and began the 30 minute trip across the lake. That ferry is the longest free ferry in North America, and is for the convenience of people who live on one side of the lake so that they can visit and shop on the other side. Otherwise, the existence of this long, narrow lake would effectively divide the two areas.

After landing on the other side we drove a few miles to the town of Nelson, British Columbia.
We did a little sight seeing and then stopped in the down-town area to have lunch and to shop.
As we looked around I saw something that puzzled me. All the buildings were flying American flags! Strange -- we were in Canada.

I asked cousin for an answer to this puzzling sight and he didn't have a clue. There had always been Canadian flags in the past. We actually did see a Canadian flag in the outskirts of the town but in the down-town area, all the flags were U. S. Stars and Stripes.

The waitress in the drugstore sandwich shop provided the answer to our question. The movie, Roxann, was being filmed in Nelson and since it was supposed to be happening in an American town, they had hung the American flags. She said that it really gave her a strange feeling to see the American flags flying. I never saw Roxann, but if you did, you can know that the town shown was actually in Canada, despite the U.S. flags! I later wondered if the red, British-style phone booths were shown in the movie. At that time I would have said that no American cities or towns have those type of phone booths so that would be a dead give-away. Not so, however, in nearby Houston there is an area called the UK (Upper Kerby) and they have the red phone booths as a gimmick to attract shoppers to the area.

We drove back via the Salmo Pass, a new road that also provided access to both sides of the lake, but involved many more miles of driving. All-in-all, it was an interesting day.

Today is Thanksgiving Day and Sweetie and I are spending our first Thanksgiving alone. YD and her little one could have come over, but they were invited to go with friends and we encouraged them to accept the invitation. We were just visiting with my parents and assorted other relatives a couple of weeks ago, for the 68th anniversary celebration, and we are going back there mid-December, so we had no desire to go there for this special day. Instead we elected to stay home and enjoy each other's company.


We had a special breakfast -- REAL BACON! Sweetie had real eggs but I stuck with my Egg Beaters since I was splurging on the bacon. It was nice to get to share breakfast. Normally he goes off to work before I get out of bed and I eat alone.


After breakfast he went out to continue working on the fence restoration (because of Ike) and I made pumpkin pies. I made one regular one, and one with cheesecake in it. For several years we could purchase pumpkin pies made with a swirl of cheesecake in them. Those are no longer available so I decided to see what I could "invent." We haven't eaten them yet but I did taste and I think I'm going to like the results.

The fence repair went well and was finished, and the new gate hung, around 1 pm. Sweetie came in and took a shower and sat down to rest a bit. I was back in the kitchen preparing our special dinner. With just the two of us we elected to skip the big turkey dinner. Actually, we eat turkey about once a month, along with oven baked sweet potatoes. That is what we had last night. Today we had ribeye steaks -- they were really delicious! Sweetie had garlic flavored rice with his, and a green salad. I had green beans cooked with potatoes. Both of us had our usual vegetable medely that we have with steak -- bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms sauted and served over the steak. Oh, the meal was so good! We haven't had a good steak in a while, trying to stay on the chicken/fish regime that is supposed to be healthier, so we relished the taste of red meat! Although I do love vegetables, I could not be a vegetarian -- I do love meat!

Throughout the day I've been thinking about the things I'm thankful for.

First of all -- always -- I am thankful for salvation! That our God could love us so much that he sent his only Son to earth to die for our sins is just an awesome thing. It is always first on my list of things to be thankful for.

Second, I'm thankful for my husband. Another gift from God! We've been married 34 1/2 years and I am thankful for him every day. Now, some days I may have to strain a little to be thankful because he's not perfect and sometimes he rubs me the wrong way, but he still make my life delightful and I do appreciate him.

Third, I'm thankful for my children. I gave birth to one, the Lord allowed me to adopt two more, and then Sweetie provided the fourth and final child. They all have been a blessing to my life.

I'm also thankful for other members of my family. Seven grandchildren, parents, three brothers and three lovely sisters-in-law, various nieces, nephews, and cousins. Oh, yes, and my children-in-law. They, also, are a blessing because they make my children happy.

I'm thankful for health. I sometimes wish I was a little taller and a little slimmer but, basically, I enjoy good health and I am very thankful for that. Sweetie is also in good health. My parents have lived to their mid 80's and while their health is not without challenges, they still live alone and enjoy their life together.

I am thankful for the gift of sight -- for hearing -- for my voice -- for the sense of smell and taste and touch. How different my life would be without those things!

I am thankful that I live in this great nation! We are preparing for a change in leadership so there is some uncertainty in the future but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

I am thankful for friends. God has blessed us with many good friends and I enjoy their company.

I am thankful for my church -- I am glad every week when it is time to go to church. We are blessed with friends there, also.

I am thankful for the "things" that I have been blessed with. A beautiful home, good food, reliable transportation, a sewing machine or two, cameras, (Sweetie's motorcycle because it brings him so much pleasure) washing machines, vacuums, etc. Things that make my life easier and sometimes more rewarding.

I am thankful for the natural world around me -- for flowers and trees and grass -- for water in the form of lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans -- for rain and mist and fog -- for sunlight -- for coolness and for warmth. I'm thankful for the creatures of this world. This morning, while I talked with my east coast brother, he described the scene out of his kitchen window. A buck, doe, and two fawns wandered into his yard. Squirrels and various brightly colored birds were feeding in the grass. Sounded marvelous! We get squirrels and birds but don't have deer where we live. Last night a skunk wandered down the meadow and left a calling card on the wind that came in my bedroom window. I know there are other small creatures that share the meadow, and I am happy to have them there.

So many things to be thankful for!! Almost too many to mention.

What are you thankful for? Drop me a comment and let me know what you are most appreciative of. I look forward to hearing from you!

Well, the blog ate my quilt show pictures! The slide show isn't running anymore. Eventually, I guess I'll figure out what is wrong, but for now, it isn't there. Sorry!

A couple of weeks ago I spent two wonderful days at the Houston International Quilt Show 2008. What fun! If you've never gone to a quilt show like this one, you've missed a treat. Quilts don't always look like the one your grandmother put on her bed. Quilting has EVOLVED!! Each year we have special exhibits at our quilt show. One year there were Amish quilts -- another we saw quilts from Gees Bend. We see quilt journals, traditional pieced quilts, art quilts, antique quilts and quilts as fresh as this morning's newspaper. A variety of styles and colors and techniques and materials and . . . and . . . oh, just so many different things that you literally hit sensory overload and have to stop looking for a while to let your mind rest.

What can you do then? Why, shop of course! Several hundred vendors set up booths and what a treat it is to shop up and down the vendor aisles. So many things you never knew you just had to have! The fat quarters alone will make your heart sing.
Thousands of fat quarters to browse through! Oh, they do delight my eyes.

Gadgets galore! Now, we aren't going to talk about just how many of my purchases have gone directly into a drawer never to be seen again. Nope, won't talk about those! But I will tell you that this year I bought a circle cutter. I've wanted one for ages and I really got a great buy. Anybody need a circle cut? I can do a perfect one.

Each year I look at all the new machines and drool over them. Oh, to have a long arm quilter! But, what room will I empty out to accommodate it? Don't have one and don't do enough quilting to justify having one, either, so . . .

This year I confess I did more than look at machines, however. I bought a new Viking Husqvarna Topaz 30. This is the embroidery machine that comes with two hoops and a multitude of patterns. I haven't even gotten it out of the box yet BUT next week, when things slow down a little, I'm going to get it out and play!! I'll let you know how it turns out!

I had planned to put a slide show on with quilt show pictures BUT, once again I can't get that option to work. Sigh. Oh, well, I'll keep trying. Meanwhile, I'll just play with my new machine. Should be able to really make something beautiful, right? Should be.

Don't we have it all!

Sweetie and I have been at the local dollar stores buying items for our Christmas shoe boxes. We decided to purchase plastic shoe boxes with snap-on lids instead us using cardboard shoe boxes. We figure they can be used for a long time and are relatively water proof and perhaps insect proof.

It was an interesting experience since there were several other people in there also buying for their shoe boxes. Two older teenage boys were having a blast! They were buying all the things that they had enjoyed as younger kids. One woman and son were buying things he liked since they always buy for a boy the age of the son.

Miss Willie and her family (daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter) picked up 20 shoeboxes from Kingsland last week. They buy items all year and then when the boxes are available they have a great time filling them from their year's worth of goodies. It is part of their Christmas tradition.

Not knowing where the boxes will go creates somewhat of a dilemma. Many countries do not have the same customs that we have. For instance -- pink for girls and blue for boys. Much of the world does not make that distinction. Babies don't have pastel blankets with Disney animals. In Africa they like bright colors -- "baby" designs are not sought after. If, on the other hand, the boxes go to American children the characters on them will make a difference. i.e., Dora the Explorer for girls and some boy character for the boys. (I'm out of touch -- who are the boy characters now?) If the kids don't have TV, they don't know about Dora or Speed Racer, transformers, Star Wars, etc., so then it doesn't make a difference.

We looked at gloves -- but we don't know if they are going to a country that will need gloved at this time of year.

Scrunchies seem a good choice for girls but you often see little girls with short hair in the TV commercials for different kinds of aid. Perhaps it is easier to keep clean if they keep it cut short. We bought Care Bear clips. Will they know what to do with them? Perhaps the people who arrive with the boxes will show them.

Anyway, it was fun and was a lesson in dealing with basics and necessities. In a recent GMA show a woman was there promoting the shoe box program. She had been a recipient of a shoe box when she was a child and it was the first gift she had ever been given. What joy that must have brought.

If you aren't doing shoe boxes this year I encourage you to think about doing so.

A test!

Saturday afternoon my Sweetie and I went on a canoe trip through a section of the Colorado River. It was a beautiful day, the water was low but adequate for our journey. We've never gone boating before -- well, we did ride a raft down the Colorado River in Colorado but that was more like white water rafting. This was to be peaceful paddling.

It was -- paddling -- BUT...

Shortly after we started I decided that every couple, from engagement on, should have to take a canoe trip together! It is a real test of your ability to work together.

First of all, neither one of us really knew just what we were supposed to be doing. Oh, sure, getting from point A to point B. Yeah, right! How? The other canoes (7 in our group) mostly disappeared from sight early on. We were one of the last three even though we were the second to launch. Did you know you can do doughnuts in a canoe just like you can a car? Well, trust me on this, it not only can be done but we did it frequently. We also paddled backward quite well.

Paddling a canoe is a little like steering a car in a skid. You turn (paddle)opposit the direction you want to go. You have to be in agreement about just where you are aiming for. I was in the front and Sweetie was in the back. His stroke is more powerful than mine -- just simple differences in our upper body strength. I understood the principle -- we wanted to go straight ahead most of the time, unless we were missing something submerged or an island. I thought I understood what I was doing. He, on the other hand, did not think I understood at all. We worked at cross purposes (hence the doughnuts!)

Ok, submissive little wife put down her independence and said, "Darling, just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it." (Aren't I sweet!) We would be heading in the wrong direction and he'd say, "Paddle on the right side (or the left side.)" and I'd frown, because I was sure that was the wrong way, but I'd do it. About two strokes later he'd yell -- "No, no, the other side." By then we were halfway around in our doughnut --- AGAIN!!

We saw both banks of the river all the way down -- I tried to pretend that I was merely looking at the flora and fauna -- that it was deliberate. I don't think we fooled anyone. We just couldn't keep it straight!

About 2 hours into our 3 or so hour journey we stopped on a sandbar with the others to take a break from sitting. Lovely place, the children played in the water, we chatted and ate snacks and drank our water. Then Sweetie and I set sail again. Ok, no sail, but I wanted to get ahead of the pack. This time Sweetie got in front and I rode in the back. Oh, my. I got dizzy from all the doughnuts. One by one, the other canoes passed us and once again we were the back of the pack. Around and around we went. Finally, Sweetie, at this point very frustrated, decided to stand up and change his seat cushion. Yes, he stood up! in a canoe! in the water! and guess what -- over we went! Into the river! A very wet river! Fortunately, we were in a rather shallow area, but I was all over wet. I went to grabbing camera (in double zip-lock bags) paddles, water bottle, cushions, etc. The canoe never really sank but with water in it (we were told) it weighs 2000 pounds. Took a bit of doing and some help to get it turned over and emptied. My camera fared well but his cell phone bag leaked and it appeared that the phone had drowned. :-(

When we finally got the boat mostly empty of water I decided I was getting back in the front. Sweetie was totally embarassed, and greatly apologetic, and he was more inclined to follow my lead at this point. We managed to complete the trip without other mishaps. It was an occasion for friendly laughter among our group members when we landed at the pick-up point. Thankfully we were able to deliver canoe, paddles, cushions, life vests, etc., all intact.

While preparing for the trip I decided to take along a change of clothing. Tried to talk myself out of it but no, it just seemed a wise thing to do. Thank goodness, I didn't have to ride back home (hour drive) in those wet garments. I was so happy to get into dry clothing! Didn't take extra shoes but did have my beach shoes in the car so they sufficed for the ride home. (I should have been wearing them in the canoe!)

So back to the engaged couples -- I think it says a lot about a couple's ability to work together if they can paddle a canoe in somewhat the direction they want to go. It takes a lot of teamwork -- a reasonable amount of give and take -- the ability to laugh at yourself -- the ability to let go and let someone else lead -- and, oh, yes, forgiveness!

Well, a new life experience for this old married couple! It is a lot funnier now than when I was sloshing around in the river!

And, on a final note, we dried out the cell phone and after a while it came back to life and appears to be just fine! Praise the Lord!!